A few weeks back when I posted on church planters and pastors fleeing urban and rural areas and flocking to the suburbs and the Bible Belt, somebody from Utah asked why nobody was planting in Utah. It was a great question, and I haven't been able to shake it.
Surely somebody is doing it. But apparently not enough are.
I don't consider myself a church planter, but if I did, and if I planned to plant a church, I think Salt Lake City would be near the top or at the top of my list. Nearly two years ago in a post titled Hot Potatoes the Church Must Handle, I wrote about:
The push on behalf of the LDS "church" to be considered not just Christians, but evangelical Christians. And the apparent sympathy for this movement from scholars/pastors within the evangelical church.
I think we might have slacked off in reaching Mormons because in the culture war that evangelicalism has mistaken for mission, they make for wonderful allies. Actually, they are better than us.
But anyways, I'm curious about who's bringing the gospel to the Book of Mormon Belt. I'd like to know who they are, what their churches are doing, and see what might be done to help them out.
I could Google, but I'm resourcing the collective knowledge of my readers here. :-)
Give me some names, give me some links. If you have them!
6 comments:
Via Twitter, Element's worship pastor @thehaggard mentions a missionary couple he knows in Ephraim, Utah, and @JonMcIntosh mentions Dave Nelson at K2 Church in Salt Lake City: http://www.k2thechurch.com.
Keep 'em coming, folks!
Here's a guy that is planning exactly that.
http://chazzdaddy.blogspot.com
Kevin, awesome. Thanks.
I have one friend who tried, some years ago . . . he left after three years because he had nothing sustainable, hoping that God would bring someone else along to water whatever seeds he'd managed to plant.
It's not an easy area in which to plant churches; though SLC's been growing, so it's probably easier now than it used to be.
Jared,
Really appreciate your blog. My wife and I are in the process of praying about heading out there to do just that. We are in talks with a Mission group www.missionutah.org and hope to hear something soon. I will contact you and maybe element can be a prayer supporter and if you are really committed a financial supporter as well.
http://www.lifelinecommunity.com
A friend and fellow student at seminary (from a the late 90's) has planted a church in West Jordan, UT (near Salt Lake City). It is growing. God is kind in His desire to have His Son known and cherished!
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